My friend has 1.5 years exp but passed the MSFT senior hiring bar — now they’re lowballing
Hi my friend’s abilities exceed his years of experience. He passed the interview criteria for a senior level at Microsoft but they’re trying to lowball his salary based on years experience / their arbitrary choices.
They elected to interview him anyway in spite of that so it seems like they’re just flexing their leverage after-the-fact since he’s H1B. What can he do to negotiate? He shouldn’t have to accept a pay cut… I know people from more brand name schools and companies who got treated better and just appropriately compensated by MSFT…
Discussion
(4 comments)- 16 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Your friend needs leverage, and you shouldn't expect any company (including MSFT) to not take advantage of the specific situation of a candidate to lowball them. Things like visa requirements or lack of a brand-name school give the company more power. What your friend can do is:
- Get other offers that are better and present the data
- Interview for a different org/team in hopes of a more senior title
- Ask for a target range in a specific component of the offer, and be willing to trade-off the other components. (this is what I talk about in the negotiation course: https://www.jointaro.com/course/the-insiders-guide-to-negotiating-your-tech-salary-and-compensation/determine-levers-you-can-pull/)
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6 months agoStaff Eng @ Google, Ex-Meta SWE, Ex-Amazon SDM/SDEThey may want to ask for the specific level being offered. Is it L63? L64? I would guess L63. In terms of comparing to ranges, they should be sure they are considering their work location, as this can affect compensation.
Another aspect is you mentioned taking a pay cut. Did you mean getting an offer below market rate, but it is still greater compensation then they have now, or do they actually make more now than this offer? If the latter, that is leverage since they have a choice to get paid more by staying put.
Getting a higher offer even if they don’t plan to take it (I.e. an Amazon offer, even for SDE-II, could be higher, SDE-III much higher) is the “obvious” negotiation tactic.
If your friend does need to start this job immediately for visa reasons they are in a lurch. Time to interview elsewhere would be limited, and getting a start date would be critical.
- 06 months agoSenior Software Engineer [OP]Bloomberg LP
Lower than current pay — so he’s outperforming his level and but they’re digging their heels in and prio’ing YoE. Responses in this discussion match my guesses it’s a bummer though.
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6 months agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroWow, your friend has 1.5 YOE and they can pass the senior bar at Microsoft? On top of that, their current compensation is higher than a bottom-of-band Microsoft senior offer? They must be very talented!
Unfortunately, everyone else is right in that they need leverage. Companies are way more willing to flex on candidates in this market (because they can), and Microsoft in particular is very hot right now as it's arguably the leading company when it comes to AI applications.
In general, companies are being more strict with YOE requirements right now. A lot of my mentees have 3 YOE and are high-performing E5 making $400,000+ at Meta. When they poke around outside of Meta, a lot of companies refuse to match their senior level + compensation as their YOE is too low (they are expecting 5+ YOE). It sucks 🤷
